Vendors served up free scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream on an overcast Saturday in Hyannis to celebrate one of the company’s sweetest milestones.

Michael Lyons, who has operated his shop at 352 Main Street since 1987, is the first Ben & Jerry’s franchisee in the company’s history to celebrate 30 years in business.

Hundreds attended the free, day-long event at Aselton Park on Hyannis Harbor, a nod to the global company’s mission of giving back to the community. Virtually everyone in attendance lined up for complimentary scoops, and many also enjoyed brisket from Baby’s Bonetown BBQ and pints from Cape Cod Beer and Devil’s Purse Brewing Company.

Today, Ben & Jerry’s -- home to flavors like Half Baked, Cherry Garcia, and Phish Food -- runs 577 shops in 38 countries. But Lyons was only the 20th person to franchise with the company, and holds the distinction of thriving the longest while his fellow proprietors either retired or lost their leases.

“It was literally a mom-and-pop since the beginning,” Lyons said. “Everybody has a personal ice-cream story.”

His begins at age 30 on the West Coast, where Lyons was franchising in a completely different field: for an oil company. While at a wedding, a tip about an opportunity with Ben & Jerry’s enticed Lyons and his pregnant wife to move cross-country to Cape Cod.

Now 61 with two grown children, Lyons says his knowledge in high school of where all the late-night ice cream shops were located signaled more than just an edible interest in ice cream. And while Main Street has shifted around him over the years, Lyons says the biggest threat to his business came during its first decade, when many shoppers left downtown Hyannis.

“There were times in the middle of the ’90s where I was like, ‘This is not working,’” he said. Lyons later created and introduced his own flavor, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, a customer favorite for nine years.

“He’s an angel,” said Katie Nikas, 26, who began working with Lyons a decade ago and has managed the Main Street location for seven years. “He trusts your opinion. He’s super-laid back and understanding, which I think is great, especially for a boss dealing with teenagers.”

“Michael and the staff are a solid team that 30 years wouldn’t exist without,” said the Sandwich-based singer-songwriter Brian Sances, who performed at the Aug. 5 event. Many of Lyons’s former employees greeted him in the beer garden that was part of Saturday's festivities and offered their thanks.

Today, opening a Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop can cost the franchisee about a half-million dollars. The company was founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vt., by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. (Greenfield visited Lyons in late July to congratulate him in person.) In 2000, Unilever bought the company for $326 million, years after acquiring Good Humor and Breyers. Franchisees remain in demand, specifically those who are “socially conscious” and “passionate about operating an ethical, responsible business,” according to the company’s website.

Sustainable farming, fair-trade ingredients and progressive causes remain central to Ben & Jerry’s social mission. Recent corporate tweets include: “Refugees are great for our communities,” and “Join the movement to restore the ability to vote to nearly 1.5 million Florida citizens.”

“Politically, they are out there,” Lyons said. “But they are unpretentious and believe what they do. I still love coming to work every day. I still smile whenever I walk in the door.”